Detroit 300 looking for men who beat, robbed two elderly women in Detroit

DETROIT, MI — The Detroit 300 formed in 2010 when fed-up residents combined efforts to find two young men who assaulted and raped two elderly women in their 90s.

"We've come full circle," the organization's vice president, who used the alias "Mr. Blue," said Wednesday.

The group of 4,000 volunteers is planning to search tonight for suspects who robbed and beat two elderly women in Detroit on Tuesday. One of the victims was pistol-whipped in her home on Pingree.

The crime was a call-to-action for the Detroit 300, a grassroots crime fighting organization, that's been publicly quiet for the greater part of a year.

"The public has had enough and they want to be involved," said Mr. Blue, who helps lead the 4,000-volunteer group.

The group plans to converge on the neighborhood Wednesday evening to canvas door to door asking for information leading to the identification of the culprits, who are believed to be in their late-teens or early-20s.

Anyone interested in participating is asked to meet at 8356 Linwood at 6 p.m.

"The citizenry generally won't talk to the police," said Mr. Blue, "but they will talk to us."

A $1,000 reward is being offered by a private citizen for the suspects' capture.

Eighty-nine-year-old Imogene Ankton's eyes swelled shut from the beating she took when the three men entered her apartment while she slept, ripped jewelry from her body, stole valuables and even ice cream.

“I had two quarts of ice cream in the box and they took it, so they’re nothing but children,” Ankton, a retired retail worker who’s lived in the home for 28 years, told the Detroit Free Press after the attack (full story). “Parents need to take their children in hand, and the community has to be riled up, to be concerned about what’s going on. If it happened to one person, it can happen to anybody... This is all over Detroit. This is a community problem, and the community has to become involved if they want to put a stop to it.”